


Who Needs Normal? (AKA: When the Masks Begin to Slip)

by HMA64



Series: Normal Is Boring and Subjective. [1]
Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: ADHD Anne Boleyn, ASD Catherine Parr, F/F, Family Feels, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Varying Levels of Angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:41:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25863766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HMA64/pseuds/HMA64
Summary: Even though their friends had been nothing but supportive since they'd gotten their diagnoses, Anne and Cathy still found it hard to drop their masks around Catalina, Jane, Anna and Kitty. It wasn't like they intentionally hid some of their neurodivergent behaviour (...okay maybe some of the hiding was intentional but not the majority!) Sometimes, it was instinctual, and sometimes it was because of previous life a-holes. But the masks could never stay up forever, and the Queens were always there when they slipped.
Relationships: Anne Boleyn/Catherine Parr, Anne of Cleves/Katherine Howard, Catherine of Aragon/Jane Seymour
Series: Normal Is Boring and Subjective. [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1881718
Comments: 68
Kudos: 178





	1. Anne: Swaying ft. Catalina

**Author's Note:**

> Me? Writing a multi-chapter fic? It's more likely than you think! 
> 
> Basically, this is a series of little stories involving Anne and Cathy's various stims and other neurodivergent behaviour, how the Queens find out about some of them and how Anne and Cathy learn that they don't have to mask quite so hard nowadays. I have 5 chapters planned out but we shall see how this goes! :)

Anne was fairly sure she’d only picked up this habit ( _stim, it’s called a stim_ she reminded herself) in this lifetime because she couldn’t remember ever swaying when she stood in her first life. Oh sure, she’d had trouble staying still, but constantly shifting her weight from foot to foot, or swaying side to side? That was definitely new (she was positive, if she had done it in her last life, either her father or Henry would have made sure she never forgot...and that she stopped.) She doesn’t even realise she’s doing it half the time. 

* * *

They’ve started doing public stuff recently. The show is in previews, and the Queens are starting to do interviews and discussions and things. They even get invited to West End Live for the first time. Everyone had been so excited, including Anne, who’d barely stopped smiling all day. Their costumes were still being worked on, Anne and Kitty had chokers, Catalina and Anna had spiked crowns (which Anna had helped to design), and Cathy and Jane had their earrings. The outfit colours were set in stone, the costumes themselves were in the final stages of being put together and, in general, all of the girls were getting less nervous about performing. 

The crowd had been fantastic at their first proper performances of Ex-Wives and Six at West End Live, and it had only served to increase Anne’s energy levels, to the point where she’d started to sway slightly during the following interviews. 

A couple of days later, one of those interviews went live on YouTube, and Anne couldn’t stop herself from looking through the comments. Everyone seemed to really like the music (Anne let herself feel a bit of pride at that, since she, Kitty and Catalina had written the bulk of the score, Cathy had mostly helped everyone with lyric writing, while Jane and Anna had worked on costumes). A decent number already seemed excited to attend the show themselves. Then, Anne spotted a comment that hit a nerve.

_Is the green one drunk? She’s swaying like she’s been drinking. Can’t say I’d want to see this show if one of them gets drunk before performing._

Anne had gotten in trouble for not being able to keep still in her first life. Hell, even Catalina used to admonish her for it when she was one of her ladies, she’d said it was undignified for a lady to fidget. And Anne certainly didn’t want anyone to think she was drunk during shows. 

What if the other Queens noticed? What if people made more comments and the others believed them? She’d gotten used to Catalina being a close friend, to not having the awkwardness lingering between herself, the first Queen and the third. She couldn’t let this swaying thing annoy them, or damage the reputation of the very show that all of them had worked so hard on, even if it was a stim. She kept staring at the comment for a while, re-reading it over and over, occasionally watching the interview back to see exactly how she was moving. She only stopped when Cathy came and sat next to her, asking if she would go to the library with her to return some books. Anne couldn’t tell if she imagined the faint blush on Cathy’s face as she asked. Nor if she’d imagined the way the other woman had lit up when she agreed, but God she hoped she hadn’t ( _Easy Annie,_ she thought, _that’s a crisis for a different day.)_

But as she and Cathy walked to the library (with Cathy rambling excitedly about the books she was returning and Anne desperately trying to ignore how cute she found said rambling), she made a promise to herself that she was going to stop swaying. How hard could it be really?

* * *

It turned out the answer was ‘very hard.’ Anne would catch herself swaying and get frustrated that she hadn’t been paying enough attention. Or she would manage to stop herself from moving for the whole day and then be so, so tired when she got home. She was especially finding it hard not to fidget during the ever-increasing amount of interviews that the girls were doing in the run-up to the first, full West End performance. Trying to keep track of the conversation while trying her damndest not to sway every time she had to stand for an interview or even posing during promo photos for the show, was so mentally exhausting and Anne wasn’t even really sure why. She didn’t even want to risk fidgeting in other ways in case people noticed and started spreading things about her being too stupid to stay still, or that she was drunk and that was why she kept moving. Anne Boleyn was nothing if not stubborn, especially when she was anxious about something apparently, so she continued to try and keep still whenever she could.

* * *

2 weeks before the first show, the Queens were doing what they hoped was the last interview. All of them were a little sick of answering the same questions over and over, and all of them just wanted to rest at home, or put the final touches to the show. The interviewer seemed to understand this and was being pretty polite with his questions. Annoyingly for Anne though, the interview was being done on the stage, which meant that the easiest way to film it was for the Queens to be stood up. Which meant Anne was focusing less on the interviewer’s questions and more on making sure she didn’t start moving. _God this is exhausting._

“One more question for you Anne, if you don’t mind?” The reporter’s voice cut through Anne’s focus, and she forced herself to look at him with as big of a smile as she could manage. “I can’t imagine how painful it must have been for you to see some of the things that history has said about you and your brother in particular. What do you think he would say if he could see you now? Finally clearing both of your names?”

It was like a switch went off in Anne’s head. She opened her mouth to speak, but she could already feel her throat constricting, her eyes starting to tear up and her instinctive desire to _just fucking move_ increased tenfold. She felt herself starting to rock on the balls of her feet as memories of George filled her mind.

George and her learning French together.

George helping her prank Mary when she was young.

George smiling to her at her wedding.

George’s trial.

George’s execution.

George’s blood still on the block during hers.

George dead...because of her.

She started to hyperventilate and quickly excused herself from the interview, taking off in the direction of the dressing rooms. She slammed the door shut behind her, flinching at the noise, before curling up in a ball under one of the makeup tables and starting to cry, rocking herself forwards and backwards as she did, almost sobbing in relief at _finally_ being able to comfort herself with movement. The guilt she felt rising up in her at the memories of George, combined with the mental exhaustion of trying so hard not to stim for the last few weeks seemed to hit her like a train, and Anne felt powerless to stop the overwhelming emotions going through her mind.

She had no idea how long she was there. It felt like it could have been anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours for all she knew, but at some point, the door opened. She curled herself into a tighter ball, hands tugging on her hair and rocking herself harder, trying to calm herself before whoever had opened the door caught her. 

A hand gently reached around her shoulders, pulling her out from under the table and into a lap. She whined as she felt the person holding her try to keep her still, and tugged at her hair harder with one hand while trying to shove the figure away with the other. She needed to _move_ dammit, or she was never going to calm down. The hands that were holding her released their grip for a moment, before wrapping around her in a loose kind of hug and Anne could hear someone speaking to her, even though she couldn’t make out any of the words. One of the hands gently prised her own free of her hair and held it. Anne started tapping her fingers against it.

Then they started to rock with her.

“It’s alright _mi amiga,_ you’re okay.” 

The voice finally pierced through the chaos after a while. Her breathing was no longer completely out of control, she wasn’t rocking quite as violently anymore and her tears had slowed. Anne took a couple of deep breaths before looking up at the person holding her.

Catalina smiled down at her.

“I’ve got you, _Pequeña Esmeralda._ ” She said quietly, still slowly rocking Anne. Anne curled further into her, trying to focus on the motion and the feeling of Lina’s arms around her as she rode out the last of her meltdown. Lina started running a hand through Anne’s hair as the younger woman slowly sat herself up but made no effort to move away. “You feel better now?” Asked Catalina, softly. Anne shrugged.

“I feel tired and my head hurts, but I’m not as wound up as I was I guess.”

“Any idea what set that off? Because if it was the reporter, I’m fairly certain Anna and Jane are ready to kick his head in. Surprisingly Cathy looked ready to commit to a homicide too.” Anne chuckled at the image but shook her head.

“No, well it wasn’t _just_ him. I was already kind of mentally drained and then...George…” Catalina nodded and pulled Anne in closer, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

“And, what had you worked up before that?” Anne shook her head and tried to hide her face in the crook of Catalina’s neck, but the golden Queen just chuckled softly, “Come on _mi Pequeña Esmeralda_ , I can’t help if you won’t tell me.”

Anne kept her face tucked away and looked down, playing with her fingers.

"I've been trying to stay still." She admitted quietly. Catalina shifted slightly so she could look at Anne's face, not even trying to hide her look of confusion. 

"What? Why on Earth have you been doing that? For how long?!" She didn't sound angry, just concerned. Anne shrugged, still not looking up. 

"Since a couple days after West End Live. I was swaying during one of the interviews, didn't even realise I was doing it, and someone commented that I looked like I was drunk and that they wouldn't go to a show if one of the performers was drunk. And then I started thinking that you'd all think like that too and I KNOW I used to drive everyone insane with how much I fidgeted in the last life, including you and I…" She trailed off with a sigh and finally looked up at Catalina, "I was just trying to be normal."

The older woman gave a sigh and pulled Anne into a tighter hug, causing the younger one to curl into her again.

"Normal doesn't exist Anne." She started, slowly starting to rock again. It didn't exactly feel natural to her, but she could physically feel Anne's body relax as they moved so she wasn't going to stop, "Your version of normal is just...a little different to ours and that's fine." 

"But what if it makes people not want to come to the show? Because they think I'm unprofessional? Or...or what if I end up annoying all of you?! I used to drive you insane with how much I fidgeted last time and-"

"Anne, it's alright, breath for me _mija,_ it's okay." The younger Queen had started to tear up again and Lina tightened her hold just a little. "None of us will get mad at you for fidgeting _Pequeña Esmeralda,_ and I'm so sorry I used to snap at you for it. If we'd know back then, I never would have tried to stop you." She started to run a hand through Anne’s hair, internally sighing with relief as she felt the second Queen finally relax fully against her. "As for the audience, well one, screw them if they think you're being unprofessional by moving. Two, I have seen you drunk Anne Boleyn and none of the movements you do look remotely like you're drunk." That got a light chuckle from the other woman, "And three...what if we got you something to fiddle with during the show?" 

Anne lifted her head to look at Catalina. "Like what?"

Catalina looked around the room for a moment, before gently pushing Anne off of her, standing up and walking over to one of the drawers. Anne stood too and followed her over.

"Found it!" Declared the first Queen, turning back to face Anne, "Where's your choker?" 

Anne gave a slightly confused look before walking over to her own table, picking it up and tossing it to Catalina. Catalina then revealed what was in her other hand. A small, silver 'B' charm that Anne had originally wanted to put on her dress, but they hadn't found a place for it. Catalina threaded the charm onto the necklace, then walked over and fastened it around Anne's neck.

"How's that?" She asked.

Anne reached up and tried running her hand over the charm. Then she started twisting it. Her own smile started to form as she played with the charm, drawing a laugh from Catalina. "It's perfect!" She exclaimed, letting go of the necklace in order to throw her arms around the golden Queen. Catalina just laughed again and hugged her back.

"Glad I could help." 

As soon as Kitty saw the new addition to Anne’s costume, she immediately asked if she could have a 'K' for her choker, which Anne had excitedly agreed absolutely needed to happen. And after their first proper show, neither of them had wanted to take the things off, both liking the feeling of something protecting their necks. Plus, Anne really liked having that charm there and Kitty liked that wearing her charm gave her another link to her cousin (and made said cousin more comfortable fidgeting with her necklace.) 

And thus, the Beheaded Cousins' choker obsession was born...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked the chapter!! Also, to my understanding, Pequeña Esmeralda means "little emerald" because I can totally see Catalina calling Anne that. If anyone speaks Spanish and that is not correct, please let me know 😅


	2. Cathy: Hand Flapping ft. Anna

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cathy couldn't remember not flapping her hands when she was happy. It was a stim she'd had in both lifetimes. Her first 2 husbands didn't particularly mind, but it was one of the things that annoyed the shit out of Henry and Thomas. In this life, she knew, logically, that the other Queens would never be angry with her for stimming, but she was still anxious about letting anyone see.
> 
> But of course, she couldn’t hide it forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: minor references to abuse (with the intent to prevent stimming), minor self-injury during a meltdown/panic attack.
> 
> Also, Cathy goes partially verbal in this one. Still able to communicate, but not as full as she'd like (because this was written at a time where the author was partially verbal and I'm projecting a little 😅)

Cathy couldn't remember not flapping her hands when she was happy. It was a stim she'd had in both lifetimes. Her first 2 husbands didn't particularly mind, but it was one of the things that annoyed the shit out of Henry. Whenever she would flap around him, he'd slap her hands, usually hard enough to bruise. Thomas was just as bad, he would grab her wrists tightly, then squeeze and twist them until her hands started to change colour and her wrists red and raw. In this life, she knew, logically, that the other Queens would never do anything like that, but she was still anxious about letting anyone see her stim like that. She didn’t want to annoy any of them and she definitely didn't want them to get angry. Thus, the only time she flaps her hands, or her sleeves, is when she's with Anne (and then she tries to hide her blush when Anne calls her adorable.) But of course, she couldn’t hide it forever.

* * *

A few months after they started the show, Catherine Parr was the happiest she'd ever been. She had friends who loved her, her godmother (and namesake) was finally in her life (and liked her), and she'd managed to work up the courage to ask Anne out. The two of them had been together for a little over 3 months and Cathy didn't think she could be more in love.

On this specific day, Cathy was curled up on the couch, wrapped in one of Anne’s oversized jumpers, watching a movie. Most of the others were out doing various things, Anne was at the shopping centre with Maggie, Catalina and Jane were on a double coffee date with Bessie and María and Kitty was helping Joan with some things at the theatre. Anna had gotten back from her run, showered and changed, then joined Cathy in the living room, though she was busy sketching something that Cathy assumed was for Kitty. Anna had gotten very into art in the time since their resurrection and it turned out that the fourth Queen actually had a talent for it, especially when it came to drawing from memory. The two of them had talked a little before Anna’s focus returned to her drawing and Cathy's to the movie.

About halfway through the film, Cathy's phone buzzed beside her. She placed her coffee onto the table (only her 2nd of the day, she’d promised Catalina that she'd at least try and cut back on the caffeine) and grabbed her phone. She couldn’t help but smile as she saw who it was from. 

_Annie 💚: Going 2 that sweets place u like (Mags wants 2 get Jo chocolates sidenote we really need to get them together) what u want? Xxxxxxxxx_

Cathy let out a quiet laugh as she read through the text. She knew exactly which place Anne was talking about, a Victorian style sweet shop about 10 minutes from the shopping centre. While Anne was definitely more infamous in the Queendom for her sweet tooth, Cathy also had a slight sugar addiction that, evidently, her girlfriend was only too happy to fuel. 

_Cath 💙: Cherry drops and pear drops please! And yes, we absolutely do need to get Joan and Maggie together xx_

_Annie 💚: I knew it'd be those! But Mags made me check 😑 Glad ur on board with the plan! Xxxxxxx_

She chuckled again, almost perfectly being able to picture Anne’s 'told you so' that Maggie would no doubt be receiving right now. So focused on her conversation with Anne, Cathy hadn't noticed Anna put down her pencil to watch her, a smile on her own face as her mind plotted various ways to tease Cathy with this later (all in good fun of course.)

_Annie 💚: OH! Before i forget i got a couple new Poirot books! ABC Murders and Five Little Pigs. Pretty sure we havent read those yet xxxxxxxxxx_

Cathy felt her smile grow as she read that, excitement hitting her hard. As much as they loved reading, Anne sometimes struggled to actually read. If she was particularly fidgety or just generally couldn't focus, she would get stuck having to re-read the same page until it actually processed in her head. Audiobooks weren't something she liked, she insisted that the narrators were annoying (though Cathy suspected it was more to do with the fact that, in Anne’s mind, audiobooks were Jane's thing) so Cathy had started reading to her.

In the last few weeks, they had gotten really into Agatha Christie, especially the _Poirot_ books. They'd finished _Murder on the Orient Express_ last night and Cathy had genuinely been a little sad that it was the last one they had. So hearing that Anne had bought another two? Cathy couldn't wait to start reading more tonight. 

"Hey Cathy, what're you doing?"

The sixth Queen jumped at the sound of Anna’s voice, a confused expression on her face as she looked over. Anna tilted her head slightly, nodding towards Cathy's free hand.

Cathy froze. Anne’s jumper was big enough on her that the sleeves fell down to totally cover her hands and, apparently, while she was talking to Anne, she'd started flapping the hand that wasn't holding her phone, the sleeve flapping with it.

"I...I uh…" She started, dropping the phone by her side and wrapping both arms around herself, almost protectively. "I was talking to Anne." 

Anna looked at her, closing her sketchbook and leaning forward with a small smile that she hoped would put Cathy at ease. "I kind of guessed that one _Haselmaus,_ I meant what were you doing with your hand?" The smile, evidently, did not put Cathy at ease, as Anna watched the other woman curl further into herself and, by extension, further away from her. Cathy's eyes began to cloud over, the same way that Kitty’s did when she was talking about Henry and Anna fought the urge to walk over and hug her. "It's alright _Haselmaus_."

"I-I'm sorry." Said Cathy, quietly, trying very hard to remind herself that this was Anna, not Thomas or Henry. _She's not going to hurt me, it's Anna, I'm safe with Anna._

"Cath, it's fine, there's nothing to be sorry about-"

"I know it's childish and annoying and I really try not to do it around anyone. I don't know how I missed it-"

"Cathy!" Said Anna, with enough force that it got Cathy to stop rambling. "It's okay. I'm not mad or anything, just curious." She stands up then and starts walking towards the other woman, but stops when Cathy tenses. "Cathy?" Asked Anna, gently. Cathy let out a small whine and curled into an even tighter ball.

Anna realises her mistake then. She'd stood up too quickly. 

"I'm sorry!" Cathy exclaimed, eyes screwing shut, almost like she was bracing herself to be hit. The red Queen watched, a little helplessly, as Cathy gripped onto her own wrists tightly, digging her nails in and twisting her hands.

For Cathy, the second Anna had stood up, it was like a switch flipped in her mind. Suddenly, Cathy wasn't sure that the other Queen wouldn't hurt her, she wasn't sure that any of the Queens would be okay with her flapping her hands. She closed her eyes as her mind filled with all the ways Anna was going to yell at her, all the ways that the others were going to yell at her. She felt the familiar pain in her wrists and let out a whimper as she felt the familiar signs of a meltdown starting to form.

That was when she felt someone gently prying fingers away from her wrists. She felt the person take her hands, slowly stroking a thumb across her knuckles. 

"Open your eyes Cathy, it's okay."

The voice was calm and familiar and Cathy latched onto it, forcing her eyes open. Anna very briefly met her gaze before letting her break eye contact. "There you are _Haselmaus."_ She said quietly, very loosely keeping her hold on Cathy's hands. 

"I…" Cathy started, before her throat closed up and the familiar (and infuriating) barrier seemed to form between her brain and her mouth. "Happy." She says suddenly. Anna looked at her with a clearly confused expression. "Hands...when I'm happy." She tries again, pulling one hand away from Anna to half-heartedly imitate her earlier stim.

"You flap your hands when you're happy?" 

Cathy nods, a clearly relieved expression on her face at the realisation that she's being understood. "Always do. Tom and Henry didn't like it. Got annoyed." 

Anna went quiet for a few moments, still holding Cathy's hands. Then…

"Did they hurt you? When you'd do that?" She doesn't really want the answer, but Anna knows she'd be a shit friend if she didn't ask. Cathy nodded, then flipped Anna’s hands so they were palm up. 

With no real force behind it, she slapped Anna’s left wrist. "Henry." She said, somewhat numbly. Then she wrapped her hand around Anna’s right wrist and squeezed lightly. "Tom." It took a second for Anna to piece that one together, but when she did she immediately felt rage bubble up in her chest.

 _Those motherfuckers._ She thought to herself.

"Cath...you know we'd never hurt you like that. Right?" 

Cathy nodded, slightly ashamed that she'd let herself break over this. "Hey." She looked back up at Anna’s face and was met with a smile, "Text your girlfriend and tell her to bring pizza home with her. I'll go make you a cuppa and you can pick the next film, yeah?" 

For a moment, Cathy was going to nod. Then she decided to be a bit brave.

She let herself flap the sleeves of Anne jumper. Anna’s smile widened and she moved her hands away from Cathy (slowly) and started to stand up (also slowly.) "I'll take that as a yes?" She asked with a smirk. Cathy smiled and nodded. 

During the next film ( _Who Framed Roger Rabbit?)_ the two of them resumed their original spots, Cathy on the couch focusing on the TV and Anna sketching. 

* * *

Neither of them spoke of the incident again, though gradually Cathy started to flap her hands or her sleeves more and more often around the others. Anne never let it go by without taking the opportunity to tell her how cute she found it and neither did Catalina (much to Cathy's surprise and minor annoyance.) Jane and Kitty never really mentioned it, though Kitty started subtly using it as a way to gauge Cathy's mood. 

* * *

A couple weeks after the incident, Cathy found a piece of sketch paper on her desk. On the paper was a full colour pencil drawing of herself, draped in an oversized green jumper, focusing intently on the TV. One hand holding her phone, a love-sick smile on her face and one, sleeve covered hand flapping. Cathy didn't even have to look at the little red signature in the corner to know who it was from. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haselmaus- to my understanding means "dormouse" in German (pls correct me if I'm wrong!)


	3. Anne: Chewing ft. Jane

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anne chews things. In both of her lives, she's always chewed at something when she's bored or distressed. Both Catalina and Jane know about it, as they both saw it in their first lives. During a particularly bad sensory overload, Anne had accidentally made her finger bleed...badly. Both she and Kitty freaked out because blood and Anne has been anxious about chewing ever since. 
> 
> Cathy buys her a chewable bracelet which Anne wears all the time, and Anna had started buying her gum to chew instead, but Anne really does try not to anymore.

Anne chews things. In both of her lives, she's always chewed at something when she's bored or distressed. Both Catalina and Jane know about it, as they both saw it in their first lives, but Jane has seen Anne hurt herself with it more times than either of them would like. This is because Anne not only chews at the end of pens or bites her nails, but she also chews the first knuckle of her index finger. During a particularly bad sensory overload, Anne had accidentally made her finger bleed...badly. Both she and Kitty freaked out because blood and Anne has been anxious about chewing ever since. Cathy buys her a chewable bracelet which Anne wears all the time, and Anna had started buying her gum to chew instead, but Anne really does try not to anymore.

* * *

Anne and Jane were on a joint day off when the latter invited the former to go shopping with her. Anne always jumped at chances to spend time with her cousins and had, of course, agreed, which had led to a very pleasant afternoon for the two of them. 

After a couple of hours, Jane could see Anne starting to get a little restless with just walking around various shops and so she led the brunette to a coffee shop that had recently become a favourite of hers.

It was a cozy little place, with seating both upstairs and down, though Jane knew that the upstairs was always much quieter, which was why as soon as they got their drinks they headed up and got seats near the window. 

They talked for a while, Anne excitedly explaining the plot of a TV series she'd recently gotten into and Jane listening with a smile. Of all the Queens, Anne tended to info-dump to her the most and Jane definitely wasn't going to complain about it. 

Eventually, they finished their drinks and Jane offered to go down for refills. Anne nodded and handed over the money for her drink.

"And bring some extra sugar packets up too please!" She called. Jane just laughed and headed down to join the queue.

Anne stayed in her seat, looking out the window and people watching. It didn't take very long for her attention to start wandering and her fidgeting to start. It wasn't very busy upstairs, which was nice because it meant less noise, but it also meant that she didn't have a whole lot of stimulus. She hadn't brought her phone with her, since the only people who would call her were A) busy on stage most of the day or B) could also call Jane, so she hadn’t bothered to pick it up. That did, however, mean she was now bored and without anything to do.

She glanced down and her eye caught the bracelet wrapped around her wrist. The actual bracelet was a cord, with small, silicone charms hanging off it. Anne hesitated for a second, before sliding it off of her wrist, picking the little black bat charm that she thought was cool and started to chew on it. It didn't really taste of anything ( _duh_ , she thought, _it's food-safe silicone_ ) but the texture was nice and just the act of chewing on it managed to calm her mind a little. With the bat charm still in her mouth, she turned back to the window and resumed her people watching. 

A couple minutes went by and Jane still hadn't returned. Anne stood up, switching from the bat charm to a little green leaf-shaped one, and walked a little way down the stairs. Jane caught her eye and smiled at the sight of the other woman actually using the chew bracelet. Anne smiled back and gave her a little wave, before going back up and taking her seat again. _Jane looked close to the front of the queue so she shouldn't be too much long-_

"What do you think you're doing?"

Anne jumped and looked up. There was a woman, probably in her early 40s of Anne had to guess, standing right next to the table. She looked pissed.

Anne gave her a look and pulled the bracelet away from her mouth. "Uh...excuse me?" She asked, not bothering to hide her confusion. The woman rolled her eyes. 

"I said, what do you think you're doing?" She said it slowly, like Anne was being stupid, and a familiar anger started to bubble up inside her. Anne Boleyn, despite how she played her character, was not stupid.

"I'm waiting for my cousin to bring refills up." She replied, a slightly gritted-tooth smile on her face. The woman rolled her eyes again and pointed at the bracelet. 

"I mean, what makes you think that's an acceptable way to behave in an establishment where people eat."

"I'm sorry, what-?"

"You are an adult." Interrupted the woman, harshly, "I expect 5 year olds to understand that you shouldn't chew on things and yet I've been watching you chew on that bracelet like a rabid dog. You think that's acceptable?!" Her tone got more aggressive as she spoke, and Anne felt herself physically recoil in her seat. But like hell was she going to back down.

"Look, lady, I have AD-"

"So not only are you immature, you're also rude!" Exclaimed the woman, "I don't want excuses, I want you to grow up, put that thing away and now apologise for your tone."

Anne glared at the woman, quickly realising that reason wasn't going to get her anywhere. Truth be told, she was getting nervous about this whole thing and she glanced to the stairs to see if Jane was coming back yet. She didn't notice that she was pulling the bracelet back towards her mouth until she felt something tug at it, hard. 

The woman had grabbed onto the cord of the bracelet. 

Anne's eyes widened and she tried to tug it back towards her. "Let go! You're going to break it!" The woman tutted and yanked at the bracelet. The cord snapped, sending the charms scattering across and under the table. Anne went totally still. _Cathy gave me that,_ she thought, not caring or noticing that she was moving her hand to her mouth again. _Cathy gave me that and she's going to be upset that I broke it and-_

"Oh for-grow up!" Came a harsh voice, followed by a slap to her hand. Anne yelped and looked down. She'd started to bite her finger and the woman had slapped her. 

"Get. The _fuck_. Away. From. My. Cousin." Came a cold, calm voice.

Anne let out a sob, half of pain, half of relief, as she saw Jane storm over to them. The blonde made sure to barge into the woman's shoulder as she passed, almost slamming the drinks onto the table, before turning back to the woman. 

Said woman looked horrified for a moment before composing herself. "Your cousin was behaving like a child, so I decided to treat her like one. Get her to act her age-"

"What was she doing?"

The woman rolled her eyes, clearly annoyed at being interrupted, "Chewing on that bracelet. Then she decided to be rude so I told her to stop and to apologise for her-"

"Did she tell you she has ADHD?"

"She tried to make some excuse." Hissed the woman, "And I have to say, I don't like your attitude either."

"Good." Replied Jane, her voice low and venomous, "You aren't meant to. I'm not in the habit of being particularly polite to people who _assault my family_ ." She took a step forward then, and Anne managed a small smirk through her tears as the woman took a step away from Jane. "Not only did you slap her," she continued, allowing more anger to enter her tone, "You also damaged her property. Now, I've been coming here for a while and I've gotten pretty friendly with the staff downstairs. So unless you want me to ask for their security camera footage and press charges, might I suggest you get your pathetic, entitled, ableist _arse_ out of this shop and if you _ever_ lay a hand on my cousin again, I will be far less nice. Got it?"

She didn't raise her voice at all. It stayed low the entire time she spoke, but the venom became more potent with every word. The woman spluttered for a moment before grabbing her bag and quickly leaving. 

Jane took exactly six deep breaths before turning and almost running to Anne. Anne had pulled her legs up onto the chair, arms wrapped around them and was rocking slightly, one hand still gripping the bracelet cord. Jane kneeled in front of her and tapped the second Queen's knee once: **can you speak?** Anne made a so-so gesture with her hand. Jane gave her a reassuring smile and lightly tapped her shoulder, twice this time: **hug?** Anne nodded immediately and wrapped her arms around Jane. The silver Queen did her best to relax, still tense from the encounter with the woman, but determined to calm Anne.

It took about 20 minutes and a very sugary hot chocolate to get Anne back to relative calm. Once Anne was okay enough to release Jane from the hug, Jane went about picking up the charms that had scattered when the cord snapped. As soon as that was done, the two of them grabbed their stuff and left (though not before Jane quietly described the woman to the people at the counter and they assured her they would ban the person if she came in again.) They got into the car and, as they were buckling in, Jane noticed Anne was staring into space, hands gripping onto the hem of her shirt. With a sigh, Jane reached over and gently pried one had open.

"You're okay." She said, quietly, "You're safe. If you need to bite your nails or anything on the way home, it's okay." 

Anne shook her head, "I-I can't get it out of my h-head." Jane made a sympathetic noise and leaded over to kiss the green-clad girl's forehead. She reached into her bag and tossed something into Anne's lap as she started the car. Anne looked at it and smiled. 

Jane had brought one of Anne’s Tangles with them.

* * *

2 days later, Anne found the bracelet on her table in the dressing room, all the charms restrung on a new cord. A little white Post-It was next to it, with messy handwriting and minor misspellings that Anne couldn't help but smile at. Even if it was only short, Jane writing anything for her made her happy.

**_I found a new cord wen I was out with Anna. Hope I got the charm order rite!_ **

**_-Janey (P.S. If enyone treets you like that again, tell me.)_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *pokes head out of the ground after being gone for a month* Hello! Sorry, I got writer's block, then had a chronic pain flare up and THEN I got sick (not 'Rona, just a cold but it wiped me out for a few days.) Hope you liked the chapter!!


	4. Cathy: Echolalia & Audio Stims ft. Kitty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cathy repeats and not just what she says. In her first life, Cathy would repeat herself pretty consistently. If she was interrupted, she HAD to start from the beginning of whatever she was staying (she still does.) Thomas hated it more than anyone else. She would also HAVE to re-read certain sections of books until her brain was satisfied she could do something else. In this lifetime, this has expanded.
> 
> She tries very hard to not repeat too much, or to listen to things repeatedly around the others, not even Anne, because she worries it will annoy them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...this chapter is actually kind of important to me because Echolalia is a BIG part of my ASD and I don't think I've ever seen representation of it, especially not in the way that I experience it the most (spoiler: how Cathy is gonna experience it in this fic.) So...yeah, I just wanted to say that 😅 Carry on!

Cathy repeats and not just what she says. In her first life, Cathy would repeat herself pretty consistently. If she was interrupted, she HAD to start from the beginning of whatever she was staying (she still does.) Thomas hated it more than anyone else. She would also HAVE to re-read certain sections of books until her brain was satisfied she could do something else. In this lifetime, this has expanded.

She repeats phrases she hears that she likes and they become part of her vocabulary (after seeing all the Star Wars movies, Anna, Anne, Kitty and eventually Cathy started greeting each other by saying "hello there". Months after the other 3 stopped, Cathy still says it on reflex.) She also has to re-watch or re-listen to scenes in TV shows or sections of songs. Even if it's annoying her, she can't stop herself from doing it. She tries very hard to not repeat too much, or to listen to things repeatedly around the others, not even Anne because she worries it will annoy them. 

* * *

Cathy was in her room, writing, of course, the first time anyone caught her repeating to her full extent. She'd put YouTube on in the background (Cathy could work in quiet, not silence) and was only half paying attention to the video playlist she'd put on. It was a set of videos that she'd seen literally dozens of times because if she knew what was happening, she needed to pay less attention.

She'd just finished her paragraph when a sentence caught her ear: _"There's the Pueblo, I always wondered how to build a town in a cliff."_

Cathy felt the smile form on her face as she began reciting along with the video, not looking up from her writing: "Guess who's here? Khmer. Where? Here. And Pagan is there. Vietnam unconquered itself, Korea just became itself and Japan in so addicted to art that the military might have to take over the government...."

Kitty was heading to get a book from her room when she heard Cathy talking. Curious as to who the older Queen would actually be talking to, since the others were either out or downstairs, Kitty went over to the dark blue door and quietly pushed it open. Cathy was so focused on what she was doing that she didn't notice. 

Initially, Kitty was just impressed with how Cathy was keeping up with the guy in the video, she was easily keeping pace with the fast-talking. But as Kitty watched for longer, she noticed that Cathy was also perfectly imitating the tone of the guy, the inflexions he put into his words and the changes in volume. She even imitated his accent.

Cathy didn't echo everything either. She would stop at the end of certain parts, deliberately, Kitty could tell, then pick up again at bits that seemed to be her favourite. About 5 minutes of watching later, Cathy put her pen down for a moment, took the remote and rewound the video to the point she'd started listening and started her repeating again. 

Filing it away as something to Investigate™️, Kitty closed the door to Cathy's room and headed to her own.

* * *

Over the next few days, Kitty watched Cathy. She began noticing exactly how much the sixth Queen repeated things. She would repeat things the others said that she found funny, she'd repeat herself, saying the same sentence two or three times, or using the exact same phrase multiple times in a row. Kitty also began noticing how much of what Cathy said, in general, was repetitions of what the other Queens had said in the past. It wasn't her entire vocabulary by any means, but it seemed to be something that Cathy did often.

About a week after the first time Kitty noticed this habit, she decided to ask Cathy about it. Jane and Anne were in the latter's room talking about something, Anna had gone for a run with Maggie and Catalina was out with María, so Kitty decided to go back to Cathy's room and talk to her. 

"Hey Cath, you got a minute?" She asked as she knocked on the door and pushed it open. Cathy looked over and smiled at her.

"Sure thing, what's up?" Said Cathy, turning her chair around and gesturing for Kitty to sit on her bed.

Kitty sat down and looked at Cathy for a moment, before asking, "Do you know you repeat things a lot?" At the sudden, ever so subtle, flash of panic on Cathy's face, Kitty immediately added, "I-I'm not annoyed by it or anything! I just...you were talking along with a video last week like it was nothing and I kind of noticed you do it pretty regularly, but it never seems like you know you're doing it?" She hadn’t meant it to be a ramble, but it had quickly turned into one. Cathy looked down.

"It's called Echolalia." Started Cathy, quietly, "It-I read up on it after I got diagnosed. Everyone does it when you're a child, it's how you learn to talk, but with ASD sometimes you just...don't stop. ' _Meaningless repetition of others_ ' spoken words' is the official definition." She did air quotes around the definition. "It just...I don't know why I do it, half the time I don't even notice I'm doing it. Sometimes I repeat out loud, especially if I'm working and listening to videos I like and things. Most of the time I just repeat stuff in my head so I don't annoy anyone. Internal Echolalia is the name of that one." With that, Cathy went silent, lightly fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.

"So..." Kitty said after a few moments, "It's like when you stim but you're talking instead of moving?" She sounded curious, not annoyed or angry like Cathy had expected.

"Yeah. But it annoys people so I try and keep it in check." The blue Queen shrugged.

"Uh-uh. Not anymore." Kitty stood up and moved to crouch on the floor in front of Cathy's chair. "You don't hide stuff like this anymore, okay?" She didn't look Cathy in the eye, instead, she lightly gripped her hand and looked at that, "I wouldn't let Anne hide stims or anything, so I'm not going to let you hide either." 

Cathy gave her a small smile and, after a moment of hesitation, reached for one of her notebooks and handed it to Kitty. "Sometimes it feels like I have too many things repeating in my brain to concentrate, but I don't say anything around people so...I started writing it. It's mostly quotes from movies, some choruses from songs, or just bits that get stuck in my head, things like that. It's a decent substitute when I can't actually repeat anything verbally. Plus, when I overload or can't talk it's like my mind goes to static and reading some of the phrases kind of...I don't know, reboots my brain in a way?" 

Kitty listened and nodded as Cathy explained it all. Then she looked at the book in her hand.

"I'll learn some of these then. Maybe if you hear someone saying them when you're non-verbal, it'll help your brain reboot easier?" She smiled and Cathy chuckled and leaned forward to hug her.

"Thanks, Kit."

* * *

Over the next few weeks, Kitty diligently went through the notebook. She recognised a lot of the stuff in it, though some quotes she ended up typing into Google to find where Cathy had heard them. She learned the tones, the inflexions, the contexts of as many as she could (which, if anything, gave her a hearty appreciation for how Cathy's brain worked because she really struggled to remember even a fraction of the phrases, and Cathy told her that the book had many a tenth of the phrases Cathy actually used.) 

Sometimes, it was an inside joke: Cathy would say a phrase from a video and Kitty would reply with the following line instead of saying "good morning" for example.

Sometimes, Cathy would get stuck, repeating the same variation of a phrase or listening to (and singing/talking along with) the same two minutes of audio and Kitty would give her another phrase to get her out of the loop.

And sometimes, when Cathy went non-verbal, Kitty would sit down next to her and quietly mutter as many of the phrases as she could remember in a sort of pattern, one that could be easily followed, until Cathy could eventually join in. 

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long 😅 Life got hectic and then mental health went to hell for a couple weeks and it turns out it's actually really hard to write about 1) your most prominent autistic trait and 2) the one you're probably the most insecure about so yeah! Sorry this took a while x 
> 
> (Also, Cathy's system of writing out her internal echolalia is copied from the system I worked out in primary school. I would have so much repeating happening in my head and no way to get it out that it would be impossible to focus on what teachers were saying. So I started writing out my internal echolalia into notebooks so that I could focus :) )


End file.
